Breakup of Agglomerated Clusters of Cellulosic Fines and CaCO3 Particles Exposed to Hydrodynamic Stress

The capacity of fine particles to remain clustered together after being agglomerated by polyelectrolytes plays an important role in papermaking and in the treatment of wastewater. Tests were carried out with agglomerated suspensions of calcium carbonate and primary cellulosic fines in neutral buffer solution. Agglomeration was induced either by a high-charge cationic polyelectrolyte (a coagulant) or by sequential treatment with a coagulant and a very high-mass anionic acrylamide copolymer (a flocculant). Particle size analysis, based on diffraction of laser light, showed that the coagulated suspensions were susceptible to being redispersed by hydrodynamic shear. By contrast, flocculated suspensions were only partly broken up. In a flocculated mixture of CaCO₃ and cellulosic fines, only the cellulosic fines could be separated from each other. The intensity of shear was more critical than its duration. Conventional shear stress was more effective for the breakup of the polyelectrolyte-induced agglomerates versus extensional flow or intense ultrasonic vibrations.